A Desperate Journey: Women Crossing Borders for Abortion Access
As the clock strikes 6 pm, Tania (not her real name) finds herself alone in her San Diego home, her children out for the evening. Exhausted from a long day at work, she takes four pills and allows them to dissolve under her tongue. Six hours later, as the medication courses through her body, she begins to expel blood clots that she dares not look at. Despite the pain in her abdomen and the tears streaming down her face, Tania was prepared for this – she had been warned that bleeding and discomfort were to be expected. Yet, the solitude of her darkened room only amplifies her fear.
Hidden Hope: Abortion Pills Crossing the World’s Busiest Border
The pills Tania consumed had made a perilous journey, concealed among the more than 90,000 individuals who traverse the border between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego daily. At this bustling crossing, lines of people stretch for blocks, each person subject to the scrutiny of hostile immigration officers searching for “illegals” among the throngs. Tucked away in a suitcase, boxes of misoprostol, a medication used to induce abortions, await their chance to offer hope to women in need.
Abortion kit delivered by Las Bloodys in Tijuana, Mexico. Photograph: Carlos Barrera
A Landmark Decision: The Dobbs Case and Its Aftermath
Tania’s abortion took place in April 2022, just two months before the US Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs decision. This ruling overturned the constitutional right to abortion established by Roe v. Wade, leaving women across the United States unprotected and vulnerable. In the wake of this decision, Mexico emerged as a beacon of hope for those seeking to escape the restrictive abortion laws now in place in many US states.
The Flow of Abortion Pills: Data from Customs and Border Protection
According to data from Customs and Border Protection, the number of abortion pills seized at the US-Mexico border has skyrocketed in recent years. In 2021 alone, over 20,000 pills were confiscated, a staggering increase from the mere 200 pills seized in 2019. This surge in pill smuggling underscores the desperate measures women are willing to take to access safe and legal abortions in the face of increasingly restrictive laws.
It was translated by John Newton.
1 Comment
How desperate times call for desperate measures, shocking yet understandable.